Canadian, eh? So what?

Filed in archive Golf News on July 27, 2009

Courtesy: RCGA

What does the future hold for the Canadian Open?

The world's third oldest tournament and Canada's only contribution to the mighty PGA tour machine has become a mere backwater event in professional golf.

Once upon a time, the Canadian Open was one of the most prestigious tournaments to play in and win. Not anymore.

For the past couple of years the Royal Canadian Golf Association, which owns the Canadian Open, has struggled to find a long-term sponsor (problem solved 18 months ago when RBC bank came on board), and deal with a horrible spot on Tim Finchem's golf calendar.

The Canadian Open, which has been won by the likes of Greg Norman, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Weiskopf, Bruce Lietzke, Curtis Strange, Nick Price, Mark O'Meara and Tiger Woods and which is one of the few events that Jack Nicklaus never won, used to have a fine spot on the calendar, coming smack in the summer months.

Then it was moved to early September and weather became a frequent problem (as it has this year). Many top players began to drop out, citing fatigue from a long tour schedule at that point.

When the RCGA pushed for another date, Tim Finchem came up with late July - right after the British Open.

That's when the quality of the fields began to plummet. And it hasn't stopped since.

Tiger Woods didn't bother to defend his crown back in 2001. Phil Mickelson doesn't give the Canadian Open a thought.

So, the RCGA has been forced to charter a jet each year to bring players from the Open site to Canada to play in the third oldest tournament in the game.

Imagine that. It's much like NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's purchase of airtime on US television networks in order to put hockey in front of a mostly indifferent American audience.

Every year the question is asked: what can the Canadian Open do to become a top-flight tournament again? Offer more money? The purse is a hefty one, right up there with the richest PGA tournaments.

A different date in the calendar? Ah, there's a good starting point.

Commissioner Finchem hinted at Glen Abbey last week that several tournaments might be slotted into a "flex schedule" and shifted about.

I doubt whether that will help the Canadian tournament since it's already been shifted about over the years and very little good has come of it.

The Canadian Open, I fear, is becoming an expendable tournament. The PGA Tour will be forced to do what Formula One motor racing has had to do: find different venues where there's plenty of money available.

Finding money today is quickly becoming impossible but if only tour rookies, tier B touring pros and the odd name player bother to come to the Canadian Open, then why wouldn't the PGA want to create a tournament that would attract say 60% of the field from the British Open and guarantee a bigger TV audience in the United States?

As the PGA Tour schedule shrinks in the coming several years with the withdrawal of broke or near-broke corporations, the pressure on the Tour's planners will grow to develop properties that will bring both the best players and the biggest TV audiences.

The Canadian Open would be such a property, given its rich history in the game.

But, somehow I doubt the PGA Tour would give it any more thought than the majority of the world's top players do.